Chances are if you asked most fans and pundits whether Jose Aldo is a special fighter, you would receive a resounding yes, but according to Conor McGregor, the UFC champ isn’t.

McGregor and Aldo are booked to fight at UFC 189 on July 11th, in what will mark the latter’s 1oth defense as the WEC/ UFC featherweight champ. Due to Aldo’s remarkable championship run, and abilities, the Brazilian star is widely considered to be one of the best, pound-for-pound fighters in the sport.

Despite all that, however, McGregor has repeatedly stated that he isn’t overly concerned about Aldo’s skills. At a Q&A session this past weekend, the outspoken fighter repeated that view (quote via MMA Fighting.com):

“I don’t feel his boxing is great,” McGregor said. “His shot selection is poor. I would classify him as an intermediate at best. I feel his kicking game is overrated really. He cannot kick high. I don’t feel there’s anything special about him. He’s just another body that moves the way they all move, that I will shut down.”

McGregor is coming off a second round, stoppage win over Dennis Siver last month, which was the featherweight contender’s fifth straight, UFC win.

Aldo, on the other hand, scored a unanimous decision win over Chad Mendes in his last outing, which took place in October.

On the same day the UFC has announced that Jose Aldo will battle Conor McGregor on July 11th, a report has surfaced saying that Chris Weidman will no longer fight Vitor Belfort on February 28th.

On Friday afternoon the UFC confirmed that McGregor will face the featherweight champ Aldo at UFC 189. The fight will be part of International Fight Week in Las Vegas, and will be hosted by the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The fight’s confirmation comes not long after McGregor stopped Dennis Siver at UFC FN 59 on January 18th, which secured the rising featherweight a title shot.

According to a report from MMA Junkie.com, however, it looks as though the fight between the middleweight champ Weidman and Belfort will have to be postponed. Sources have informed the outlet that Weidman is injured, and will not be able compete.

Weidman and Belfort were also scheduled to fight at UFC 181 last month, however, a hand injury to the champion pushed the fight to February.

The UFC has not made any official announcement regarding the reported injury. The February 28th, UFC 184 card is also set to feature a bantamweight bout between champion Ronda Rousey and Cat Zingano.

UFC President Dana White has said the promotion was looking at booking Jose Aldo versus Conor McGregor for some time in May, but according to new report, the bout has been pushed back.

McGregor secured a fight with the featherweight champion at UFC Fight Night 59 earlier this month, by stopping Dennis Siver in the second round. After the bout, White relayed that the UFC was looking at Memorial Day Weekend in May for Aldo-McGregor.

The latter’s coach, John Kavanagh, recently appeared on NewsTalk Breakfast. While discussing the upcoming bout, however, he stated:

“It’s not 100 per cent yet,” said Kavanagh. “There was talk of a May date. It may now actually be later in the year.

“I get a lot of tweets and messages, people wanting to book their flights. I would just say hold on, hold on until the UFC officially announce. It’s not confirmed yet.”

Kavanagh also added that Aldo-McGregor could take place in “mid summer.”

McGregor had been campaigning for the bout to take place at Croke Park in his native, Dublin, Ireland, but White has said that the promotion is planning to hold the fight in Las Vegas.

Kavanagh confirmed in the interview that is still the promotion’s plan, due the logistical issues the UFC would face, by holding the highly anticipated bout in Ireland.

The UFC and FOX pushed Conor McGregor and his Fight Night main event with Dennis Siver this past Sunday very hard, and it looks like it paid off big time.

McGregor has been rising the UFC’s featherweight ranking for a while now, in addition to making plenty of headlines along the way, and clearly the Irish fighter has attracted a large audience. According to a new report from MMA Fighting.com, UFC FN 59 drew an average of 2,751,000 viewers for FOX Sports 1, and the main event bout between McGregor and Siver pulled in 3,162,000.

Those numbers soundly defeat the UFC’s previous record for FOX Sports 1, which was 2,270,000 viewers. That’s how many people tuned in to watch Chael Sonnen and “Shogun” Rua fight in August, 2013.

It should also be noted that this Sunday’s card also featured former lightweight champion Benson Henderson taking on fellow contender Donald Cerrone. The latter won the bout via unanimous decision.

UFC FN 59 was hosted by the TD Garden in Boston, and McGregor went on to stop Siver in the second round.

Conor McGregor was tapped to headline UFC Fight Night 59 on Saturday, and thanks to his win over Dennis Siver, the rising featherweight led the card’s disclosed payroll.

McGregor scored a second round, stoppage win over Siver at the January 18th card, which was hosted by Boston’s TD Garden Arena.

According to multiple reports, the Massachusetts State Athletic Commission has released the salary figures for the event, and McGregor collected $170,000 in total for the victory. Siver, meanwhile, was paid $39,000.

Here are the salaries that were disclosed to the Massachusetts Commission by the UFC. The figures do not include any additional money a fighter may have earned through sponsorships or other types of performance bonuses.

Not only did Conor McGregor secure a title fight with featherweight champion Jose Aldo on Sunday night, the Irish fighter also improved his ranking position.

The UFC has released its latest rankings, following UFC Fight Night 59… Read More

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Conor McGregor (photo via UFC.com)

By FCF Staff

Not only did Conor McGregor secure a title fight with featherweight champion Jose Aldo on Sunday night, the Irish fighter also improved his ranking position.

The UFC has released its latest rankings, following UFC Fight Night 59 in Boston, which saw McGregor stopped Dennis Siver in the second round. As a result of the win, McGregor has moved up one spot into the #4 ranking at 145.

Cub Swanson, who had his six fight winning streak snapped by Frankie Edgar in his last outing, fell from #4 to #5.

In the pound-for-pound rankings, bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw was voted up two positions into #7. Ronda Rousey and Anderson Silva each slipped on spot into the #8 and #9 rankings respectively.

The UFC rankings are voted on by a panel of media members following each of the promotion’s events.

UFC on FOX 14 is next, and will take place on Saturday in Stockholm, Sweden. Alexander Gustafsson will fight fellow light-heavyweight contender Anthony Johnson in the headliner.

As many expected would be the case, Conor McGregor had little difficulty picking apart Dennis Siver with his diverse strking game last night at UFC Fight Night 59, and as a result, “Notorious” has locked up a… Read More

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Conor McGregor

By Kelsey Mowatt

As many expected would be the case, Conor McGregor had little difficulty picking apart Dennis Siver with his diverse strking game last night at UFC Fight Night 59, and as a result, “Notorious” has locked up a bout with featherweight champ, Jose Aldo.

While the win likely didn’t prompt McGregor’s biggest critics to go leap onto his bandwagon, since Siver is not the accomplished wrestler many have argued he should face, there’s plenty of buzz already regarding the upcoming championship fight. Of course, McGregor did his part and then some to get that hype going, by leaping over the Octagon last night and confronting Aldo face-to-face.

Now Aldo may not be a powerful, well rounded wrestler like many of the division’s top contenders, but the champ has defeated several of them during his storied reign. Not only has Aldo defeated Chad Mendes twice, but the Nova Uniao fighter holds wins over Ricardo Lamas and Frankie Edgar.

Due in large part to these victories, Aldo is widely regarded to be one of the planet’s best pound-for-pound fighters, and many believe he is one of the greatest fighters to ever compete in MMA. If McGregor believes any of this, however, he continues to keep it under wraps.

Since arriving in the UFC, McGregor has said he isn’t overly impressed with the champion, and speaking after last night’s win, the Irish fighter relayed the following (quote via FOX Sports press release):

“I’ll get the belt. The vision’s a little off, but we’re doing the stadium sometime. I feel like I’ll break him. He looks small. He has the same body type as Diego Brandao. He feels small. Jose will be the same. He knows I’m coming for him. When the time comes I will shut him down.”

McGregor is referring to the fact that he’s been campaigning for the title fight to take place in Croke Stadium, which is a massive, soccer venue in his city of Dublin. UFC President Dana White, however, has said the Aldo-McGregor bout will likely take place in Las Vegas, sometime in May.

While some might agree with McGregor’s assessment of Aldo’s physique, in terms of the similarities to Brandao, few likely believe “Notorious” will storm through the champ, like he did with the latter. If “Notorious” does, then McGregor will almost certainly have far, far few doubters.

Conor McGregor has talked about his desire to fight in a soccer stadium back in his native Ireland, but it looks like that wish will go unfulfilled, when he faces Jose Aldo.

McGregor locked up a title fight with the UFC featherweight champ last night in Boston, by stopping Dennis Siver in the second round. The Dublin fighter is hoping to fight Aldo in the city’s 80,000 seat, Croke Park Stadium, but Dana White says Las Vegas will likely host the bout.

While speaking at the post-fight presser, White cited Dublin’s curfew, propensity for rain, and the logistics of holding an international event, as to why the promotion plans to host the bout in Las Vegas.

The UFC President added that the promotion is still considering hosting an event in the stadium at some point.

White also told FOX Sports 1 that Memorial Day weekend “makes sense”, while discussing a possible date for Aldo-McGregor.

Conor McGregor wasn’t able to stop Dennis Siver in under two minutes like he predicted, but the rising featherweight did have little difficulty in defeating the season vet.

From the beginning of the fight, McGregor kept Siver at bay with various types of kicks, and bloodied the latter with punches. Siver managed to take McGregor down at one point, but the Irish star quickly got back to his feet and resumed his attacks.

In round two, McGregor sent Siver to the mat with another hard punch, and then prompted the bout’s stoppage, with a series of elbows from above.

After the fight, McGregor jumped over the Octagon and headed in featherweight champ Jose Aldo’s direction, who just smiled at the brash fighter as he was kept away. McGregor is expected to challenge Aldo next.

Here are the results for UFC FN 59, which was hosted by the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.